


A Change of Scenery

by dippkip



Series: A Walk in the Park [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Clint is Steve's dog, Dog!Clint, M/M, Natasha is Tony's, Tony is a giant nerd who will do anything for love, dog!Natasha, except be suave, he can't do that around Steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 15:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5339507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dippkip/pseuds/dippkip
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper thinks it’s cute. Rhodey thinks it’s sad. Bruce is just happy he’s getting out more often. Tony thinks they all need to mind their own business and let him admire the blonde beefcake in peace.</p><p>‘A Walk in the Park’ from Tony’s point of view.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Change of Scenery

**Author's Note:**

> Thought it would be fun to give you all a glimpse into Tony's headspace during these events. In case you haven't read 'A Walk in the Park,' Clint is a Yellow Lab and Natasha is a Borzoi.

Tony groaned and let his head thump onto the steering wheel. The traffic had been awful today, turning his 30 minute commute into something closer to an hour. He was already exhausted from spending all morning in the office catching up on paperwork, but this was worth it, he reminded himself. Why else would he waste at least an hour every day driving back and forth from Manhattan down to Brooklyn?

He insisted it was because he’d found a nice park there that Natasha liked, but his friends always called him on that BS. They knew as well as he did that the only reason he kept going was so he could try to get another glimpse of that hot stranger with the Yellow Lab.

Tony had ended up in that park completely on accident a few months ago, deciding to take Natasha for a walk there since he happened to be in the neighborhood, when he first saw the guy. He looked like a roman statue that decided to get up one day and wander off to grace the world at large with its beauty. Perfectly sculpted arms, chiseled abs, and the man never even tried to hide it – Tony swore he wore shirts that were too small on purpose.

And don’t even get him started on his face. Heartbreaking baby-blues framed by blonde lashes, hair that looked soft to the touch, and _oh_ , his _lips_. More often than not, they were turned up in this adorable smile, though Tony could hardly blame him, since the Lab that came with him was pretty darn cute.

Yes, Tony kept making this ridiculous drive so he could see this Adonis; hopefully the traffic didn’t make him miss the guy.

He got out of the car and waited a moment for Natasha to emerge, shutting the door once she was clear. He locked it up as he clipped the leash to her collar, picking up the end and starting along his usual route. She kept pace with him, trotting along with her usual grace that would make any show dog envious.

It would appear he was in luck – as he came around the bend, he saw Blondie in his usual spot, sitting in the grass across the sidewalk from the pond. His Lab trotted up and dropped a tennis ball, shaking with barely-contained excitement as he waited for it to be thrown again. Blondie laughed and scratched him behind the ears before picking up the ball and lobbing it across the field.

His shirt was no less tight today; a deep blue v-neck that seemed to bring out his eyes. Faded jeans clung to his thighs, and his hair seemed windblown, his face a bit flushed – had he just been running? In those pants? For the sake of humanity at large, Tony certainly hoped so.

He smiled to himself and was saved from staring for too long by his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out and began scanning his emails, seeing which ones JARVIS thought were important enough to warrant his attention.

He sat down on the nearby bench and scrolled through the emails, scratching Natasha as his eyes flitted over sender names, and coming to a halt when he saw one from Pepper. It had replies from both Bruce and Rhodey, so maybe she was trying to get everyone together for lunch or something? He went ahead and opened it, scowling when he realized the true purpose of this email.

Pepper had sent: _Tony, I heard there was an accident on FDR Drive. Did you make it in time to see your not-boyfriend?_

Rhodey’s immediate response: _Is he still doing this? You either gotta take this guy to lunch or stop following him around, Tones._

Bruce wasn’t much better: _Guys, stop teasing him. It’s getting him out of the workshop every day, so he’s been getting more exercise and sunlight. I’m not about to discourage that._

 _‘Why am I friends with these people again?’_ Tony mentally grumbled, typing out his usual snarky response – somewhere along the lines of “Shut the hell up” and “Leave me be.” Satisfied, he pocketed the device and stood back up, continuing down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace. He was just about to try and sneak another glance at Blondie as he passed by when he suddenly heard loud, incessant barking. He began to turn towards the source, but before he could get a visual, something slammed into him and knocked him off his feet.

Bewildered, he tried to get a grip on the squirming mass of fur that had him pinned to the sidewalk, but met with little success. Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone, and Tony heard someone mutter “Stay” as he began to sit up. He belatedly realized his sunglasses must have gone flying when he got bowled over, but before he could process anything else, his vision was filled with muscles and concern.

“I’m _so_ sorry about that, he just gets so excited when he sees birds, are you okay?” Blondie asked, raking those blue eyes up and down Tony’s body.

Thankfully, Tony managed to snap out of his stupor enough to form a response. He couldn’t help but chuckle at Blondie’s concern, giving him a flippant, “I don’t think ‘excited’ covers it. Last time I saw a dog move so fast, Rhodey had dropped an entire pork roast.” Natasha had been positively smug that whole night, and Rhodey still hasn’t quite forgiven her for it.

Blondie began to develop a lovely blush as he continued, “Uh, yeah, but are you okay? You didn’t hit your head or anything, did you?”

Tony smiled. This goober was just as sweet as the billionaire always imagined he’d be. “I’ve had worse. My ass may be sore for a day or two, but I don’t think that’s fatal,” he offered. He couldn’t help but give Blondie an appreciative once-over as he added, “Unless you’re offering to kiss it better, in which case, I’m in excruciating pain.”

Tony counted it as another victory when the stranger flushed bright red, but before he could see whether he could get that color to move down to his chest, Blondie disappeared from sight and his nose hurt.

It took a moment for it to register that both were the fault of Natasha, who’d apparently had enough sitting on the sidelines. Fat lot of help she was when he was getting tackled by strange dogs though. He laughed anyways, watching her huff at him, and reached up to scratch her ears.

“Yes, that was rude and inappropriate of me. My deepest apologies your highness,” he teased, grinning as she sniffed and turned away.

He realized he hadn’t addressed Blondie for a while now, and that most people consider that rude, so he quickly turned towards his companion. “Sorry, rude and inappropriate is kind of my default mode. The name’s Tony, and this lovely lady is Natasha,” he proudly declared, gesturing towards her like a game show host.

Blondie smiled (and oh _boy_ did Tony underestimate its potency when it was actually directed at _him_ ) and stood up, offering Tony his hand and saying, “Well, it’s nice to meet you both. I’m Steve, and the mutt here is Clint.” He playfully glared at the Lab, who seemed to be trying his hardest to _actually_ melt Tony’s heart with the force of his big sad eyes.

He gratefully took Steve’s hand and pulled himself up, coming to Clint’s defense. “Cut the guy some slack, Steve, he doesn’t seem so bad. Tasha seems to approve.”

True to his word, Natasha was giving Clint her usual sniffdown reserved for new people (or dogs, as it were). She gave him the sacred lick of approval and it seemed to be just what the Lab was waiting for; Clint was instantly rolling around and play-pouncing at Natasha. She wasn’t participating, of course, that wasn’t really her thing, but she watched intently as the Lab wore himself out.

“Wow, I don’t know the last time I saw her get along so well with another dog.”

Steve’s eyebrows shot up. “You call that getting along?”

“Well, she’s actually paying attention to him. Normally she’ll just ignore any breathing thing within a 10 foot radius,” Tony admitted.

Steve just nodded, and the two of them watched their dogs in comfortable silence. And naturally, comfortable silences never last long around Tony Stark, so before he could try to stop himself, his mouth was open and running.

“Well, it’d be a shame to go our separate ways too soon. I haven’t found another dog yet that Natasha liked. Maybe we should go to – well, I know this place, it’s nearby, nice little café, they let you sit with your dogs on the patio, and sometimes I go there with Tasha after her walk, they make great espresso, and. Well. Would you like to go have coffee? There. With me?”

Steve looked completely flabbergasted. Well. That was not the response Tony was hoping for. Though granted, that was not exactly the smoothest delivery. It was more like a gangly teen trying to score his first date than the suave, debonair sort of stuff Tony was _usually_ capable of. Of course, that meant he couldn’t stop there, oh no. The floodgates had been opened. The babbling would commence.

“Oh geez, I am _so_ sorry, was that too weird? I mean, of course it was weird, but like, was it creepy-weird, or. Well. Nevermind that. It was just a suggestion, you don’t _have_ to, of course, I mean, it was just a thought, I totally get it if you’re busy or just not interested, really, I’ll get over it, I just thought – ”

“I’d love to!”

Tony’s jaw snapped shut. He was keenly aware of the warmth on both his face and Steve’s, and how ridiculous they both must look, but he was hanging onto Steve’s every word.

“I mean, I’d love to go get some coffee. With you.” He finished, still completely flushed, but with a squared jaw and determined glint in his eye that belied his nervousness.

“Oh,” Tony replied faintly. He was running on autopilot now, since most of his brain was currently dedicated to trying to trying to wrap itself around the fact that _Steve said yes_. “That’s…good. I’ll just – ” he vaguely gestured towards Natasha, though he never took his eyes off Steve.

“Yeah, lemme go grab his leash and…yeah,” Steve mumbled, shuffling away to gather his things.

Tony drifted over towards Natasha, gathering up her leash and squatting to look her in the eye. He held her face and murmured very seriously, “I am the luckiest man in the whole world Tasha. _The whole world_.”

She huffed her assent, though he was sure it was for very different reasons than he meant. He smiled anyways and kissed her nose before straightening up.

Definitely worth the commute.


End file.
